Classroom Library Update

I've just finished reading Game Changer by Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp. Wow. The book is packed full of ways to make books real and alive for your students ... how to update your classroom library ... finding newly published books to add to your library ... to finding ways to get books into the hands of your students and their families.

So check out these updates in not only my own classroom library, but also in my thinking about children and books.

Organize the Mess!

How can it be?? School in my district starts on August 15 and I return on the 5th, but at the same time I'm trying to still make the most of my time off!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Clear-Image

I wanted to share some of my mini projects that I have had going in the living room this summer. I think my husband will be happy when I get all of this out of here!

Setting up the *new* classroom

We have several new teachers coming to our school this year, due to a school closing nearby. So ... I moved classrooms. Since I've been teaching summer school, I have been able to unpack, organize, arrange, and rearrange.  Here's what it looks like so far.

I found magnetic hooks in the spring and they are perfect for hanging my sight word cards on and placing on the air conditioner! I need to get some more for my sight word phrases!

Tubs of books and a "friend" to read to! Along with our 3 school wide rules.

Inside my closet. Most classrooms in our building have a closet. This will be my first year to share a closet - to the left of this first picture is my teaching partner's space! 

This is also inside my closet - across from the counter in the above picture. I'm trying to take advantage of every inch of space since I will have 25 desks in my classroom!

One of my favorite ideas is to tape my crafts to the inside of the cabinet doors. They stay there neatly so I don't lose them from year to year.

Another one of my crafts, along with a peek into one of the cabinets with books.

 

I still have 17 days until returning for our first professional development day! Hope you have longer than I!

Happy New Year! - classroom organization and a freebie

Happy New Year!

I haven't blogged for a month -- oops!  :(

 

We arrived home last night from visiting Josh's family for 10 days - the longest we've been able to be with them!  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

snow at my in-laws

their street - we would NEVER have trash pick up with this kind of snow!

baking with my niece, Elle



with my wonderful sister-in-law, Jenny

at lunch on our last day in Indianapolis

 

I have worked this school year on reorganizing my units, which had been in open baskets in my room.  Then the dust set in and I sneezed and sneezed and sneezed!  So now, this is what things look like ...

everything is labeled with a tag (I have an owl theme in my room) and placed in a container with a lid (these are the new ones coming to school with me tomorrow morning)

and here is how I store my stickers - they will go in my 2"sticker binder tomorrow morning

I have several new products that I want to share with you:

January Print & Go printables - there are 32 various math and literacy pages in this unit


Marshmallow Words! is a fun way to practice spelling and reading CVC words and practice identifying short vowel sounds.  I am printing and laminating this now to have it ready for this next week! 
Follow me on Instagram (@learningisforsuperstars) to see this unit in action during the week!

 

I am so excited about these new units that I am going to give away 2 of EACH of them!  Directions: comment about how you like your hot cocoa and include your email and preference of unit by Tuesday evening, January 7!

And now for a freebie!  This I Spy activity reviews short vs long vowel sounds.  There are 5 activity boards and a recording page included!  Click on the image below or HERE!


Don't forget to comment to have a chance to win one of the units above!

 

oops! & a BIG freebie!

I've been MIA the last 2 weeks because of end of the year stuff which has kept me busy!  Here's a peek of what's been going on.....

candy awards

I made playdoh for our last 3 days of school

books and bookmarks for the kiddos

our sunglasses pictures for each kiddo to take home

thank you gift for one of my mom's

cleaning up

more clean up - thankfully that's all I have to take down!

program for the Year in Pictures on the last day of school

one of my sweet firsties

food brought in on the last day for the kiddos

my front yard: we've been having flooding issues in our basement; Josh & the neighbors dug this trench in the front yard yesterday so the rain had somewhere to go and NOT into the basement!

my new work space

It's been a little crazy around here!  While working on summer school plans, I created this first grade sight word activity.  The 30 page document has word cards for each word on the first grade list, task cards for Write the Room along with a recording page, two "I Spy" activities with recording page, texting code activity, and a game.  I printed several sets of the game board and pieces to have multiple groups playing at one time. 

Over the weekend I hit 300 followers on my blog and 100 on Facebook!

To celebrate, I'm giving away the sight word unit!  Click here or on the image below to get your FREE unit!

I hope you enjoy!  Have a great day!

Optimum Organization

I am linking up with Elizabeth & Kristen for Optimum Organization ideas!

 

I started a lot of different things this year to try to keep organized instead of waiting until spring to put everything away where it belongs!

I recently received most of my new supplies in the mail, but haven't had the time to put things away.  We are also moving out reading and science materials due to book adoptions for the fall, so things have been just a little CrAzY in my room!

I purchased 5 different sets of markers or "fancy" pens.  Everything is now stored in old Crystal Light containers and organized in my desk!  When I need to take some home, the entire container goes into my bag so I don't lose several markers or pens.

I have some sets of stamps and placed the sets with ink pads into a container with lid.  The entire container goes to the center or to a desk so pieces aren't lost.

I started out the year with things shoved here and there for each month until I saw this on Pinterest and was thrilled that I already had 2 of the storage units!  It's SO easy to grab (and put away) the specific activity designed around a holiday or season of the year!

Another Pinterest idea ... I have a lot of stickers - some for a specific holiday or season, but others are for sticker charts or for a project, etc.  I was tired of digging through my basket of stickers to find the right one.  

Here's a before ... (remember, I just unpacked supplies!)

... and after!  It is easy to organize and I have extra binders and page protectors!  {side note... one of the new smelly stickers is DIRT!  My boys smelled them and laughed so hard!}

My last idea is how I house and store my units and plans for the year.  Everything is in a binder!  I do have a filing cabinet in my room, but it is still full of my fourth grade things!  Binders are color coded based on the subject.  It's easier to find what I'm looking for this way.

Here's a peek inside one of my binders.  Each of my binders has things for that specific month ... holidays, science & social studies units, and seasonal activities and crafts.

I would love to know what works for YOU!

word work, some organization, and a Valentine's Day freebie

This has been a CRAZY busy week!  There are no kiddos tomorrow - parent/teacher conferences and professional development day.  I don't know about you, but 4 day weeks seem harder than a regular week; maybe because I feel like I have to cram everything in with one less day!

Like many of your children, my firsties love the read/write the room activities using words for their spelling features.  With this said, I have been working on one and two packets a day this week, trying to get a jump start on my lessons for the next couple of weeks.  I have 3 groups in my classroom, so that means between 12-15 lessons are used in one month.

One of my small groups has struggled with beginning blends, but they are not yet ready to spell those longer words, so I have created a couple of lists with CVCC (and sometimes CCVCC!) spelling patterns.  The one I finished last night has short a sounds.  The preview picture (also included on the preview file in TpT) has the list of items included.  Note that the read/write the room headings and word cards are in both full color and black/white, in case you are saving on ink!  Click here or on the picture below.

With all of the word work activities that I have been creating, I knew that I needed to be better organized - to know where the activities are located in my classroom AND  to know that I have something for that spelling feature so I don't make a new one!  (Yes, that has happened before!)  I recently saw a post in which the blogger teacher had zippered page protectors - so jealous!  Since I can't find those around me, I decided zippered pencil bags would work, too!

This is how everything started on my floor after printing and laminating (I just purchased a personal laminator and LOVE it!) ...
Note: I used the same color card stock for each lesson to keep cards organized and I saved on ink! :)

 

now here is one of the finished word work packets in my notebook at school, ready to use

Once I got this far, I decided that my reading group plans (which have been in the same binder with my word work/word study lessons for each week before moving to the filing cabinet), needed some work, too, so I put every reading group lesson with a copy of the lesson plans in page protectors and wrote on the edge of the page protector the reading level AND the name of the story.  For the units that wouldn't fit in a page protector, I used a manila folder and labeled it the same way.  Things are organized in my filing cabinet and I don't have quite as many binders.  I purchased colored baskets at the dollar store to match my groups; everything needed for the week - both reading group plans, copies of the books, and worksheets/quizzes, along with everything for their word work/word study lessons - is in the tub!

my 3 tubs on the AC unit, just behind my reading table

a close up of one of the tubs

And for a thanks for reading this VERY long post, I have a Valentine's Day freebie for you!  Here is an addition and subtraction fact activity.  Your children do not need number cubes for this one, as the number of spaces to move is on the bottom of each card, with "special" directions on the game board.  Store these in gallon size bags so the cards don't spill out everywhere!  I have included an answer key card in hopes the kiddos will be able to self-check.  Click here or on the picture below.  Enjoy!